Sanchita Ajjampur was born in Mumbai and moved to Europe at the age of three. Educated in Vienna and the UK, she studied art in Paris and earned her Fashion degree at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne. She then rounded off her studies in Milan, specialising in fashion and industry, and received her Master’s Degree in Fashion and Technology from Domus Academy. Sanchita speaks and writes English, German, Italian and French, as well as colloquial Indian languages.
A workshop with Asha Sarabhai and Issey Miyake between her BA and Master’s course, enabled Sanchita to take her first steps in the world of fashion and gave her experience in studios in Ahmedabad, India and Tokyo, Japan. She also worked on Indian heritage textiles research projects under the guidance of Martand Singh and Pupul Jayakar.
Sanchita does her own research and development and has travelled the globe to study its ancient arts and crafts, especially in India, where she learnt about spinning, weaving, dyeing, finishing techniques and wooden frame embroidery. In addition, she is a specialist in textiles and applied materials, which she also designs and patents.
She started working with Romeo Gigli in the early 1990s, designing Callaghan which was then produced by Zamasport, Novara, Italy.
Since then, she has worked as a consultant designer with global brands the calibre of Moschino, Aspesi, Cassoli, Iceberg, Blumarine, Gucci, Diesel and Armani in Italy.
Currently, she is design consultant to several labels of international renown, such as Etro, Chloe, Aspesi, Marni, Lanvin and Louis Vuitton
She has collaborated on industrial applied design projects for Alessi homeware, Swatch watches, Glas Design mirrors and Slamp lamps. She was the design consultant for a range of “apparel projection clothing images” for Milan’s La Scala Opera House. She has also exhibited her “applied art” embellished works in Venice, Rome, New York and Chicago with the artists Arianna Caroli and the late John Drake Moore.
Sanchita has won prestigious fashion awards in 2009, the Cosmopolitan; Fun Fearless Female of Fashion (Best Women’s Wear Designer) and the Marie Claire Made in India Fashion Awards “Best Designer Western Wear Prêt”.
In 2010, Sanchita was awarded the awarded with the “Most Creative Debutant Designer “at the Van Heusen Mens India Fashion Week.
In partnership with her brother, an economics and finance specialist (London and Paris), she founded “sanfab” in Bangalore in 2002. sanfab fuses craftsmanship, innovation and technology to produce high-quality jerseys, light wovens and leather accessories. In this context, she is also a design consultant to the brands Etro, Gucci, Aspesi and Marni in Italy, McQueen in London, and Lanvin and LV in Paris, for which labels sanfab produces.
